Gavin Strange’s Top 10 Tips For Great Logo Design

Logo creation is an easy task if only you can follow the basic rules of creating it. How your sketch pad can do you good to why vector based logo are the best considering other medium at which it will be placed and how to be minimal on effects and colours. All these and more are contained in Gavin Strange’s Top 10 Tips for Great Logo Design

BACK TO BASICS

It may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many young designers neglect their sketchbook. Scribble, doodle and jot down the key ideas relating to the identity you want to create. Get those crap ideas out of the way on paper instead of delivering them to client.

WORK FROM THE GROUND TOP

Make sure your logo works in flat black and white, then build on top of that with colours and effects. Try to imagine it being seen on a postage stamp and a billboard – it needs to work in every possible situation.

FIRST IMPRESSION

Identify your intended audience and the message you’re trying to send out. Does it require a bold, easy-to-read type treatment or are you going for a long-term iconic symbol that will become synonymous with the brand? Research your angle and the sort of design that it will require.

FRESH EYES

Don’t rush an identity. It’s not always easy when it comes to deadlines being imposed, but schedule enough time to take it step by step and look at it with fresh eyes. You’ll be staring at this relatively small but absolutely crucial piece of design an awful lot, and taking a break then going back to it a day later will fire your enthusiasm up for it again.

STRANGER (NO) DANGER

Work up a bunch of ideas and get feedback from the people who need to be involved in the logo’s creation as well as a stranger for the project. Sometimes it takes a non-designer’s untainted feedback to get you thinking in a different way.

PRECISION, PRECISION, PRECISION

It might look spot-on to your eye, but being millimeter-perfect ensures that when your logo is blown up to size of a house, it won’t be spoilt by wonky dimensions. Guides and rulers are your friends.

I’VE TASTED IT. IT’S THE FUTURE

For me, vectors are the secrets to a good logo being future-anf format-proof. Being safe in the knowledge that it can be used and exported into pretty much any format, blown up to any size and still not grind your email to a halt is a good thing.

CLEVER USE OF EFFECTS

Now that print and web are different from what they used to be – with colours, gradients and transparencies less restricted – try taking your basic idea and enhancing it with a gradient shine or a drop shadow. You might be happily surprised by your new direction.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Keep all the various stages of your identity. Duplicate and duplicate again, making your changes to a fresh copy of your logo. I like my documents to resemble an evolution, filled with every stage of design. I think it helps to see what works and what doesn’t, and also helps you to justify yourself to clients when they suggest an idea you know doesn’t quite work.

HAPPY MISTAKES

Some of the best logos I’ve created have been born out of mistakes, accidentally cropping an edge or taking away a part I didn’t mean to. It might feel like cheating, knowing your brilliant design wasn’t actually planned – but don’t worry, it isn’t. Consider it divine intervention – or just accept the compliments and tell yourself that you’re great!